another trip around the sun

our sweet greta girl turned four! i was lucky enough to get to observe her birthday celebration at school, just like last year. looking back at the pictures and posts from last year, it is crazy to see how different greta looks. i mean, obviously she's bigger. but she just looks so much more like a KID and less like a toddler. her face and her body have thinned out. where did that baby girl go? it was amazing to watch and see how much she has grown and changed in just one year. she is still our sweet, sensitive girl. but she is also confident and capable and more outgoing and is just turning into such a amazing person.
i like these pictures because you can see how lovely her classroom is....and some of her sweet little friends are in the pictures.
happy birthday greta josephine!

sunrock farm

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greta's school had a field trip to sunrock farm today, and parents and siblings were invited to come along. greta, otto, and i bundled up for a chilly (but sunny!) fall day at the farm. it was such a great trip! the kids got to hold baby chicks, pet all kinds of animals (including sheep, chickens, goats, and pigs), feed goats, brush a horse's mane, milk a goat, tend the garden, and much more. sunrock is a beautiful working farm only about 10 minutes from our house, and both kids had a great time. in the pictures you can see greta really getting into the tasks at the farm....and you can see otto really getting into the granola bar he got to have for snack. the group picture is about a third of the kids at greta's school and her teacher marlo.....

the earth goes around the sun, tra-la....

montessori center room (greta's school) has such a great way of celebrating children's birthdays. we were lucky enough to be able to be in the observation rooms to watch the whole thing. and yes, i cried like a baby. a candle is placed in the middle of the circle (to represent the sun) and then greta stood on the outside of the circle, holding a globe. she walked around "the sun" 3 times, signifying the earth's travels around the sun for each year of her life. after each "trip" around the sun, the teacher would share something about greta that happened during that year. greta did such a great job....she had only seen one other child have a birthday celebration but she knew just what to do. she was careful to begin and end her walk on the month of october, and she did a great job snuffing out the candle. she also enjoyed bringing muffins and strawberries for snack and giving a book to the class as a birthday gift. it was a beautiful celebration for our big 3 year old!!

i spy with my little eye

i borrowed this "i spy" game from montessori center room (mcr) for the class i am teaching at xavier this summer. i spy is a game to help children discriminate sounds....let's just say that greta LOVES having this i spy basket at our house and i think she's going to be pretty excited to see it again when she starts school at mcr in the fall.